1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to door openers and sanitation in a hospital or clinical setting, and in particular, to sanitizing apparatus for sanitizing the hands of a person entering a hospital or clinical room.
2. Information Disclosure Statement
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria, such as methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (“MRSA”) are a well-known health problem in hospitals and clinics, and can be passed from patient to patient as health-care providers and visitors touch a succession of surfaces or patients in a hospital or clinic. To solve this problem, hospitals and clinics provide wall-mounted dispensers of hand-sanitizing foam, liquid, or gel, such as PURELL® foaming aerosol dispenser canisters, for each room so that persons entering the room can sanitize their hands. Despite established policies and signs admonishing persons to sanitize their hands frequently, ensuring compliance with such policies is difficult to enforce, and bacteria are thus spread from patient to patient.
It is therefore desirable to have means or apparatus that ensures that hand sanitation occurs each time a person enters a room occupied by a patient, preventing entry to the patient's room unless such hand sanitation has occurred. It is further desirable that such a hand sanitation apparatus be adapted for retrofitting use with existing door openers, allowing existing door openers to become hand sanitizing door openers without modification or drilling, etc., of the existing door openers.
The following patent references are also known regarding disinfecting door opening apparatus: Brookes, U.S. Pat. No. 4,710,634 (issued Dec. 1, 1987); Cunningham, U.S. Pat. No. 5,808,553 (issued Sep. 15, 1998); Butterfield, U.S. Pat. No. 6,298,521 (issued Oct. 9, 2001); Callueng, U.S. Pat. No. 6,874,697 (issued Apr. 5, 2005); Sassoon, U.S. Pat. No. 7,320,418 (issued Jan. 22, 2008); Sassoon, U.S. Pat. No. 7,360,674 (issued Apr. 22, 2008); and Stropkay et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,458,742 (issued Dec. 2, 2008).
Brookes, U.S. Pat. No. 4,710,634, discloses a sanitizing housing above a door handle, in which the housing holds an ultra-violet germicidal light.
Cunningham, U.S. Pat. No. 5,808,553, describes a circuit and apparatus that keeps a person locked in a restroom until sanitizing steps, including spraying disinfectant soap onto the person's hands, have been completed at the lavatory sink.
Butterfield, U.S. Pat. No. 6,298,521, discloses a circular housing that fits around a door knob shaft, in which sublimed disinfectant vapors escape from the housing onto the door knob.
Callueng, U.S. Pat. No. 6,874,697, discloses a disinfectant dispenser with an electrical pump that sprays disinfectant onto door handles and door knobs when a motion sensor detects movement of a human hand.
Sassoon, U.S. Pat. No. 7,320,418, and Sassoon, U.S. Pat. No. 7,360,674, disclose an aerosol disinfectant can, mounted above a door knob, that sprays disinfectant onto the door knob at timed intervals, not in response to any manual activation.
Stropkay et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,458,742, discloses a disinfectant dispenser with reservoir mounted adjacent a door handle. Pushing or pulling on a contacting surface of the dispenser causes the dispensing of disinfectant.
Also, GOJO Industries, Inc., located in Akron, Ohio, U.S.A., is known to sell a PURELL® Foaming Hand Sanitizer in a 15 ounce aerosol canister (SKU 9698-12) that is intended for use in a wall-mounted dispenser, which is sold by GOJO Industries under its trademark APX Aerosol Dispensing System (SKU 9699-12). This foaming hand sanitizer aerosol canister, without the wall-mounted dispenser, is suitable for use with the present invention, which is adapted for holding such an aerosol canister.
None of these prior art references, either singly or in combination, discloses or suggests the present invention.